Raw bacon, deli meats, Reddi-wip and Cheez Whiz are probably not the decorations you want on your tree.

And under that tree, you may want something besides pig ears, hot dogs and cheese sticks.

Unless you're a wolf.

That was the spread on December 15, the day Santa visited Wolf Park, a research and observation center in Battle Creek, Indiana. The park, focused on understanding the role of wolves in the environment, was founded in 1972 by Dr. Erich Klinghammer, a professor of animal behavior at Purdue University.

But as Christmas approached, the park's wolves were safely locked away in another part of the park, and children were invited inside the enclosure to drape the tasty meats and treats on trees, rocks and yards inside the canid playpen.

Once the public is settled on the other side of the fence, the wolves were released. Their neighbors — which include foxes, bison and one chubby coyote — also get their own wrapped gift full of treats during the holidays.

"It’s fun for the humans and fun for the animals but it’s serving as part of what we do," said Dana Drenzek, manager of Wolf Park.

"Native Americans had lived with wolves and large carnivores, they had respected these animals, incorporating them in their religions," said Brad Westrich, a non-game mammalogist at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "We brought over our folklore and traditions and fears from Europe."

The last wolves in Indiana were gone by 1908. By 1973, when the gray wolf was listed as an endangered species, Minnesota was the only state with wolves outside of Alaska.

"We’ve had to manage the landscape a lot more ourselves," Westrich said.

Over the past few decades, wolf populations in the U.S. have started to rebound.The Minnesota packs grew and spread to Wisconsin and Michigan. A few dozen wild wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s; their numbers are now estimated to be more than 500.

Unlike at Wolf Park, the handlers at the Endangered Wolf Center limit their interaction as much as possible so the wolves can be released into the wild.Mossotti said that more than 80 percent of Mexican wolves have died from being shot, hit by cars or poisoned by humans since the release program started in 1998. She has hope that that will change, but it's going to take public education.

"Wolves are naturally afraid of people. We want to maintain that instinct, not because wolves are the danger. We are," she said.

Reintroducing wolves can also be a controversial issue, particularly among ranchers or other livestock producers who view the animals as a threat to their livelihoods.

That's starting to change, Mossotti said, as producers begin to use techniques to scare away predators or protect their livestock, tactics that were once common but fell out of practice as the threat was removed.

"That gives me so much hope," she said.

Indiana is not considering reintroducing wolves at the moment, according to Westrich of the IDNR. But Drenzek hopes that visitors to Wolf Park will walk away with a bit more tolerance, if not appreciation, for the once prevalent canids.

"It’s an animal, it’s a predator. It’s not something to hate, it’s something to coexist with," she said.

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A wolf picks up a present filled with treats during Santa's visit to Wolf Park in Battle Ground Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Guest's were invited to enter the wolf enclosure before the wolves were released to leave delicious gifts filled with treats and decorate a Christmas tree with snacks. Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar

A wolf snacks on Easy Cheese used to decorate a Christmas tree during Santa's visit to Wolf Park in Battle Ground Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Guest's were invited to enter the wolf enclosure before the wolves were released to leave delicious gifts filled with treats and decorate a Christmas tree with snacks. Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar

A wolf opens a Christmas present filled with tasty Christmas treats which decorated the enclosure at Wolf Park during Santa's annual visit in Battle Ground Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Guest's were invited to enter the wolf enclosure before the wolves were released to leave delicious gifts filled with treats and decorate a Christmas tree with snacks. Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar

Maverick Piller decorates a tree with Reddi Whip for wolves to eat during Santa's visit to Wolf Park in Battle Ground Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Guest's were invited to enter the wolf enclosure before the wolves were released to leave delicious gifts filled with treats and decorate a Christmas tree with snacks. Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar

Joline and Micheal Meyer fill a gift box full of candy canes for wolves during Santa's visit to Wolf Park in Battle Ground Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Guest's were invited to enter the wolf enclosure before the wolves were released to leave delicious gifts filled with treats and decorate a Christmas tree with snacks. Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar

A wolf searches for tasty Christmas treats which decorated the enclosure at Wolf Park during Santa's annual visit in Battle Ground Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Guest's were invited to enter the wolf enclosure before the wolves were released to leave delicious gifts filled with treats and decorate a Christmas tree with snacks. Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar

A wolf searches for tasty Christmas treats which decorated the enclosure at Wolf Park during Santa's annual visit in Battle Ground Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Guest's were invited to enter the wolf enclosure before the wolves were released to leave delicious gifts filled with treats and decorate a Christmas tree with snacks. Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar

A wolf opens a Christmas present filled with tasty Christmas treats which decorated the enclosure at Wolf Park during Santa's annual visit in Battle Ground Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Guest's were invited to enter the wolf enclosure before the wolves were released to leave delicious gifts filled with treats and decorate a Christmas tree with snacks. Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar